Comesa urges Malawi on leather, shoe industry
Comesa says the country should utilise trade opportunities in the global leather and shoe industry by expanding and promoting home grown industries.
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Leather and Leather Products Institute (LLPI) executive director Mwinyikione Mwinyihija made the remarks on Friday in Lilongwe during the graduation of 40 small and medium entrepreneurs who were undergoing training in the leather industry.
He said Comesa and Africa in general were not performing satisfactory on the global market, adding the impetus was on countries such as Malawi to seriously venture into the industry to diversify their economies and ease unemployment.
“Currently, China is the leading producer with over 9.8 billion pairs of shoes produced annually and the African society is producing just over nine million annually and there are only a few countries which are doing so, yet 21 percent of the world’s livestock population is in Africa, but our value in global participation is around three percent,” said Mwinyijhija.
He said Comesa as a region has a deficit of 20 million pairs of shoes annually and urged the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take up the challenge.
Mwinyijhija further encouraged the graduating SMEs to form clusters or cooperatives which will enable them to access loans and other support from government and microfinance institutions.
The training was jointly organized by the Comesa and Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI).
MCCCI board member Dyborn Chibonga said the chamber was keen on boosting the number of local entrepreneurs.
“Normally, as chamber we are not involved in the training of our members but we realise that these SMEs can develop and one day become big entrepreneurs who will be our members.
“We also realise that the biggest challenge they say is on the value chain level and we would like to work with them to see how we can deal with such challenges,” he said.
Ministry of Trade deputy director for industry Clement Phangaphanga said government is committed to open up to new industries and pledged support and cooperation to SMEs working in the sector.
